I'm Stephanie. I've struggled as a "skinny fat person" for years. My body fat percentage used to be much higher than you would think by looking at me. I tried many things, but Tom Venuto's "Burn the Fat, Feed the Muscle" program fit me, and has worked so far. I love it. It's no-nonsense, no-frills, inexpensive and most of all, healthy. Healthy is important to me.

(Tip: See my blog about egg whites to make sure you don't get a biotin deficiency.)

I have ...

I'm Stephanie. I've struggled as a "skinny fat person" for years. My body fat percentage used to be much higher than you would think by looking at me. I tried many things, but Tom Venuto's "Burn the Fat, Feed the Muscle" program fit me, and has worked so far. I love it. It's no-nonsense, no-frills, inexpensive and most of all, healthy. Healthy is important to me.

(Tip: See my blog about egg whites to make sure you don't get a biotin deficiency.)

I have to also admit that Tom Venuto constantly talks about eating ENOUGH, so he had me from hello. My metabolism had slowed considerably over the years of "dieting", and now, it's humming again. It's a nice change.

My Program:
I'm following Tom Venuto's "Burn the Fat, Feed the Muscle" program, and utilizing all aspects of Spark People. It's worked for me after a long, frustrating spell of steadily putting on weight, and not being able to lose it. I weighed 145 lbs. with a body fat % of 29.2 when I started BFFM, and was at 139 lbs. with a body fat % of 28.6 when I joined Spark People. My current body fat percentage is 17! I reached that goal by May 1, 2008. By June 1, 2008, I reached my goal weight of 130 lbs.

Personal Information:
I live in Texas in the USA. My husband and I live in a cool, old historical house, that my mom grew up in. It needs work, but we love it. We have 6 children: 3 are married with families. Of the 3 at home, two are in college, and our 11-year-old is a happy guy at home. (5 boys and 1 poor girl!)

Other Information:
"We are not called to be successful. We are called to be faithful."

Hi thanks for the add! And the comments :) Congrats on reachingn your goal!! I'm a newbie to maintenance too. Only been doing it for a week! I'm still writing down what I eat and using the food tracker here. Pretty much eating the same food and still having five small meals a day, but eating around 200 more cals per day (14-15 cals per lb bodyweight is a rough guide). I'm finding that I'm not so motivated to work out now, which is becoming a problem. I think you need to give yourself new goals - for example my new goals might be to do cardio 3 x a week for a minimum of 30 minutes and 2 weight work outs. Why not join one of the maintenance teams? You can get advice from people who've been maintaining for a long time. I think a lot of it is trial and error at first - just finding what works for you and what doesn't. I think it's best to increase your cals gradually rather than going straight from 1500 a day to 2000. I know one thing - I don't want to put that fat back on that I worked so hard to lose! As soon as I put on even ONE pound I'm going back 1500 cals a day til it's gone! It crept up on me before, but it won't this time! HAVE A GREAT VACATION!!

Hello, I'm a Tom Venuto fan too. I'm so envious of your BF %! My goal is to get to 18%. I don't follow the plan strictly, which is probably why I haven't got to goal yet, but I loved reading it. Tom talks a lot of sense. I see you're 3lbs away from goal like me - best of luck!